The Youth of the Uchiha Brothers
by Sunnyappleseeds
Summary: This is a collection of stories about Sasuke and Itachi's childhood. There isn't any uchihacest, just some little one shots revolving around the Uchiha brothers. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everybody! This is going to be a fanfiction containing short stories about the Uchiha brothers during their childhood. There will be not uchihacest, just brotherly love. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own any characters, I just made up the story. :)**

Sasuke was on his way home from the academy with a smile plastered on his face. It was not his day at school that put his spirits up but rather what waited for him at home: Itachi. His older brother was usually extremely busy with his responsibilities as anbu captain, but today was one of the days he did not have a mission to complete, and he promised to train with little Sasuke.

The youngest Uchiha member rushed through his front door and dropped his bag in the entryway before proceeded to remove his shoes.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," Mikoto noted as her youngest stood after successfully taking his shoes off, "did you have a good day at school?"

"It was okay," Sasuke replied as he darted to the stairs, "but I'm mostly happy because big brother promised to train with me!" Before Mikoto could manage another word, Sasuke vanished to the upper level of the house. He raced down the hall filled with excitement and pushed open Itachi's door.

The room was dark; the blinds were still closed and no artificial light was illuminating any part of the room. On the bed located on the opposite wall laid Itachi. He was perfectly still and said nothing as Sasuke advanced towards him.

"Itachi! Are you ready to go train?" Sasuke shouted with glee. Itachi slowly rolled over to face his little brother. When Sasuke caught sight of his face, he knew something was wrong. Itachi had dark rings under his eyes and his flesh was paler than Sasuke's.

"Sasuke, I'm not up to training right now..." He mumbled in a nasally voice.

Sasuke came closer to his brother, when he did so, Itachi stretched out his arm to jab his sibling in the forehead but only managed a weak tap. "Sorry, Sasuke. It'll have to be some other time."

"But big brother! You promised!" Sasuke protested.

"I know, but I'm sure you can see that I'm not feeling well. I think I have some sort of virus."

"But you never have time; it could be weeks before you get another chance to teach me!"

"I'm sorry but I can't help you until I get better... You should leave so you don't catch this from me." Itachi replied as he began to cough. He put his hand on his flushed face and moaned after his coughing spell ended. Sasuke's spirits fell rapidly as he realized Itachi wasn't going to budge from his bed.

As he began to walk towards the exit an idea popped into his head. "Hey, I can get you medicine and make you better! Then you can spend time with me!" He exclaimed.

"Viruses don't get better with medicine, Sasuke." Itachi informed him. The elder truly felt bad that his promise to develop Sasuke's skills had to be broken, but there was nothing he could do about it. Sasuke left his older brothers room feeling like his day had been ruined. He returned to the first level of the house and found his mother cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"Hey mom," Sasuke began, "can you make Itachi feel better?"

Mikoto looked over at her boy, "I wish I could, but this kind of thing just has to run its course."

"When will he be over it?" Sasuke inquired.

"That's hard to say for sure, Sasuke. I don't think it's too bad, though. He should be better in a few days."

As the two conversed, Fugaku returned to the dwelling. "Hello, father." Sasuke greeted the man. The clan leader barely acknowledged the salutation.

"Where is Itachi? I have an important matter to discuss with him."

"He's in bed." Mikoto answered.

"In bed at this hour?" Fugaku demanded.

"He's not feeling well; I believe he has a virus." She responded.

"He has no time to be sick! There is an extremely important situation I need to talk to him about."

"We'll that will have to wait," Mikoto said sternly. "besides, dinner is ready." She served the two that were present, but Itachi did not come down to eat since his stomach was not up to consuming anything. The three Uchiha members ate in silence, each pondering different thoughts. After dinner was over, Sasuke went to his room, which was located directly across the hall from Itachi's, and worked on his homework.

It took him a little while to complete his tasks, and after he was done, he decided to bathe and go to bed. As he started to drift off, Itachi started barking out atrocious coughs. It startled the younger into a fully conscious state. After the chokes from across the hall subsided, Sasuke started to slip into slumber again, only to be woken up by more raspy hacking. Nearly an hour of this went on before Sasuke got up and crossed the hall.

"Itachi," Sasuke whispered, "hey, get up!"

"What do you want?" The older brother choked. "You should be asleep."

"I would be if you weren't being so loud."

"I can't help it; you'll just have to deal with it." He managed to say before coughs shook his body again.

"Can't you go sleep downstairs?" Sasuke asked.

"If it's really that bad, you can go sleep downstairs. I'm not getting up."

Sasuke reached over to Itachi and tried to pull him from his bed. "Just go downstairs!" His attempt to pull the much larger male failed miserably. Instead of removing Itachi from his bed, Sasuke only managed to get in close enough range for his brother to cough right in his face. "You just coughed in my face!" Sasuke exclaimed as he jumped back.

"Serves you right for bothering the sickly." Itachi snickered before choking again.

Sasuke decided to return to his room. After another half hour of loud barks from Itachi, Sasuke finally managed to doze off.

Morning arrived to soon since the young Uchiha did not get enough rest. As he rose from his bed, he felt his throat burn. He alerted his mother of the pain; she took his temperature and instructed him to go back to bed. It seemed that Itachi did give him something, but it was not the lesson in shuriken jutsu he had wished for.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it :) please review if you have the time. I do not own Naruto if that was unclear :) ha ha**

Two days had gone by since Sasuke was first infected by his older brother who was now perfectly healthy again. He had just finished his reports for the day and was strolling back to his house. When he entered, a sick Sasuke looked up from his position on the couch.

Usually Sasuke would jump on Itachi the moment he walked through the door, but the last few days had been different since his little brother had contracted the same virus Itachi was suffering from days earlier.

The elder of the two walked to the couch and sat on the opposite side from little Sasuke. "How are you feeling today?"

"I guess a little better than I was yesterday," Sasuke answered, "but I'd be fine if you didn't cough all over me."

"It's not my fault you got in my face, but I am sorry for getting you sick." Itachi confessed. He cherishes his little brother above all else and felt guilty for making him feel ill. "I'll make it up to you, though. When you are feeling better, we can go train. I'll show you some new techniques."

Sasuke smiled. That sounded nice to him, but at the moment sleeping also sounded nice. He decided that he would skip dinner and go straight to bed since his stomach was out of sorts, similar to how Itachi previously felt. The young Uchiha got up and slowly made his way towards the stairs; when he arrived at the first step, a fit of coughing forced its way up his stinging throat and caused him to stop in his tracks.

His little body violently shook as he choked. Itachi examined the situation and rose from the couch. Sasuke felt himself being lifted off the ground and realized his big brother was picking him up. "I'll take you upstairs; let's go." He said kindly.

Sasuke leaned into his brother's chest. The two went to the upper level of the home and entered The younger's room. Itachi put Sasuke in his bed and examined his little brother. "You need to get some sleep; you look exhausted."

Sasuke forced his heavy eyes to meet his brother's. "Will you stay here with me?" He pleaded.

Itachi had to write a synopsis for a mission he was assigned to complete the following day, but seeing his younger brother's beseeching eyes made him have the desire to stay. He nodded silently and sat at the foot of Sasuke's bed. "I'll be right here if you need anything." Itachi promised as the boy started to nod off. "I'll always be right here for you."


	3. Chapter 3

**So this is a little different, but I had fun writing it :) haha **

One of the perks of being a younger sibling is having someone to look up to and answer any questions you may have. Sasuke found this to be especially true when it came to Itachi, for he was a prodigy and knew all sorts of things about life.

One fine afternoon, Sasuke approached his big brother to receive information on a topic he knew nothing about; the only reason he even knew the name of it was due to some if his fellow classmates mentioning it.

"Hey, Itachi..." Sasuke began.

"What can I do for you, Sasuke?" His older brother replied as he looked up from his paper work.

"What is sex?"

... Itachi was shocked to hear his seven year old brother mention such a thing. "What?" Itachi believed he must have heard little Sasuke wrong.

"What is sex?"

He heard right, though he didn't know what to reply. It was not okay to tell a mere child what physical love was, so Itachi instead turned to questioning his little brother. "Where did you hear of that?"

"There was some older kids at the academy talking about it today." Sasuke answered innocently.

"I see..." Itachi sighed.

"What is it?" Sasuke begged to know more.

"It's nothing that concerns you at the present time, and won't for quite a few years."

"But I want to know!"

"I have a lot of work to do, Sasuke." The elder unsuccessfully tried to change the subject.

"You always say you're busy. I'm not leaving until you give me an answer." He replied stubbornly.

Itachi knew that Sasuke was serious when it came to bothering him until he was satisfied, but there was no way he could tell his kid brother about the physical relationship between two lovers. "Alright... It's... Something that two people do together when they are in love."

"What kind if thing do they do?" Sasuke inquired.

"Umm, they..." The older Uchiha sibling did not know what to say, "they physically... connect and show their love."

"I don't get it." Sasuke whined as he advanced into his brother's room. He took a seat on the floor near Itachi and gazed up at him with a curious expression.

Itachi, who was sitting in a chair near his desk averted his eyes from his inquisitive sibling. "You're not supposed to get it, Sasuke. You're only seven."

"That's not fair! If you know, I should know too!" He protested.

"That's not how things work."

"Brother! That's not fair!"

"Neither is life, so get used to it." Itachi replied.

"Tell me!"

"I did tell you, and you didn't get it so I can't help you out."

"I'll go ask mother, then." Sasuke resolved and got up from the floor. He started making his way towards the doorway when Itachi spoke up.

"Don't ask her!" Itachi shouted. Mikoto would be petrified if her little boy inquired about sex at such a young age.

Sasuke realized his new leverage on his brother. "Either you tell me or I'm going to ask her."

"Fine." Itachi replied reluctantly. "Just come sit back down and don't say a word about this to anyone."

Sasuke was elated and gladly returned to his previous location at the base of Itachi's chair. "Okay... So a male and a female are different in body structure. A man has a part that goes into a woman and can fertilize her eggs-"

"You're making this up," Sasuke said, "why would a man put fertilizer on eggs?"

Itachi face palmed. "I don't mean eggs as in bird eggs. It's much different and the 'fertilizer' is produced by the man to make a baby inside the woman."

"So he puts part of himself inside her and stuff comes out of him?"

"Basically, yes."

"Why?"

"To make babies or to..." Itachi trailed off as he realized what he was about to say.

"To what?" Sasuke interrogated.

"Nothing."

"Itachi!"

"I wasn't going to say anything else."

"I'm going to go tell mother what you just told me." Sasuke threatened.

Itachi was furious that his kid brother had something over his head. "Alright, I'll tell you! Sometimes they do that for entertainment..."

"Is that normal?"

"Yes, Sasuke. Are you happy now? I've told you what you want to know."

"I guess so," Sasuke mused, "have you ever done it?"

Itachi's eyes grew wide with his brother's question. "That's none of your business. It has nothing to do with you."

"Eww!" Sasuke squeaked. "You have!"

"Don't you dare say a word about this, understand?" Itachi threatened, though he would never actually hurt his little brother.

Sasuke didn't challenge his brother's threat. "I won't, but you're still gross."

"It's not gross. How do you think you got here?" Itachi questioned.

The younger boy was disgusted at this. "You mean mother and father...?"

"That's right. Aren't you glad you asked?" Itachi taunted.

It is needless to say that little Sasuke avoided conversation with his mother and father for the following few days. He didn't want to think about the disgusting things that brought him to this world.

**Note: in episode 141 of Naruto Shippuden, Tobi mentions that Itachi killed his lover, so I based his actions off of that. **

**I also want to tell any readers that I am going to start another story; this one is hard to come up with ideas for, but I will keep adding to it. I have another story in mind that I will be writing, so new chapters will not occur as often here. If you have any ideas for a flash back of the Uchiha brothers, please put it in a review or a message and I will add it in! Thank you all!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Itachi, will you come to the playground with me?" A quiet voice asked from across the room. The elite Uchiha fixed his eyes on his little brother and away from his assignment. He motioned for the small boy to come to him.

As Sasuke approached, he realized that two of his brother's fingers were reaching out towards him, but it was two late to dodge the jab coming towards his forehead. "Sorry, Sasuke. I'm very busy today; we can go some other time."

The younger pulled away from the fingers that poked him. "You always say that!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm a busy person." Itachi smiled at his little sibling, but only got an angry look in response.

"But you still haven't trained with me from the time you got sick! You owe me!" Sasuke protested. Itachi knew it was true, but he truly had a lot on his mind.

"If you let me finish writing this report," Itachi sighed, "I'll take you to the playground after lunch."

"Yes!" Sasuke shouted with excitement. "When will you be done?"

"I should be done before we eat if you stop pestering me."

Sasuke got the hint and returned to his seat on the other side of the room. It was nearly thirty minutes before Sasuke spoke again.

"Itachi..." He started but was cut off.

"I'm not going to take you if you keep bothering me." Itachi hissed while continuing to scribble on his paper.

"But Itachi..." Sasuke started again. He was not trying to interrupt his brother's work for silly purposes this time; it was nearly two o'clock and Sasuke hadn't eaten lunch since his mother was not home to prepare it.

"Do you want me to take you? If you do, I suggest you leave me alone until in done."

"But I'm hungry and mother isn't home to make lunch and I haven't eaten anything and I don't know how to make anything and I need your help!" Sasuke spit out in one breath.

His rushed statement caught his brother's attention at last, but his response was not what he was hoping for. "Mother and father left me at home to take care of you when I was only five years old. That's much more difficult than making lunch; you're seven so I think you can manage."

"Come on, Itachi!" Sasuke begged for he had no culinary experience whatsoever.

"Alright, I'll make you lunch. But this is going to push back time at the playground." Itachi informed.

"That's okay; I'm really hungry." Sasuke replied. Itachi put his assignment mission report aside and casually strolled into the kitchen. He made the thing that took the least effort: istant ramen. Once it was ready, he placed it on the table at his little brother's seat.

"Here. Now please don't bother me until I'm done with this! It's very important that I get it back to the anbu tomorrow." Sasuke nodded his head in agreement and ate the somewhat nasty food. After slurping down the last noodles, Sasuke returned to where his brother sat.

He watched intently as Itachi finally completed his report. It was nearly three by the time all of his work was done, but that meant the rest of the day belonged to his little brother, and he would gladly give him his full attention. "You ready to go now?"

"Actually, I'm kind of tired now..." Sasuke responded sheepishly. After bothering Itachi for so long, he felt bad for not wanting to go.

"Well if that's the case, I'm going out."

"I still want to spend time with you!"

"Okay, what do you want to do?" Itachi asked, still glad that his little brother enjoyed doing anything at all with him.

"Let's watch a movie!" The younger suggested enthusiastically. The two picked out a film based around the Third Great Ninja War and settled in on the couch together. Shortly after the film started, Itachi felt a small head press against his shoulder; he looked down to see that Sasuke had fallen asleep.

Even though Sasuke was not conscious during their time together, Itachi still enjoyed having his precious brother with him.

**Please review** **with ideas for the next chapter! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I haven't added to this in a while! I hope you enjoy, and thank you xSonya! Your reviews are great; I didn't get then until today, but I like your ideas!**

"Big brother?"

"What is it Sasuke?" Itachi asked his spitting image.

"Will you play with me today?" Sasuke asked as he watched Itachi put together lunch for himself.

"Sorry Sasuke," Itachi walked past Sasuke to the refrigerator, poking the younger's forehead, "but after lunch I need to practice some new jutsu I have been working on. I rarely get time to train with all of my missions."

Sasuke rubbed his recently jabbed head. "But you told me you would spend time with me soon."

"I did say that, but soon doesn't necessarily mean today." The elder informed his pouting sibling. Itachi finally finished preparing his meal and took his usual seat at the table, only to have Sasuke sit across from him and glare.

Itachi looked over at Sasuke's look of frustration and anger. "Pouting won't help you out."

"At least let me train with you!" A plea came from young Sasuke.

"I don't have time to work with you on your training," Itachi sighed, "you are still learning the basics at the academy, and I need to work on more advanced skills."

"Can I come with you and watch?" Sasuke's big, sad eyes added to his effectiveness of begging.

Itachi let out a groan as he took another bite of food. "You say you're only going to watch, but I know that you'll end up trying to do something beyond your skill level and hurt yourself... Again." This used to happen quite often before Itachi was a member of the Anbu since he and Sasuke often trained together.

"No I won't!" The little one shook his head violently for emphasis. "And you still owe me for the time you got sick!"

Itachi thought over this while taking his now empty plate to the sink. He did want to spend time with his little brother, and the next few days would be full of tasks that would prevent him doing so. "Okay, Sasuke," he mused, "you can come... But you can't bother me while I'm training; I really need this time to advance my skills."

"Yes!" Sasuke chanted; his pleading paid off. "I'll go get my tools!" The young Uchiha ran off to get his pouch of shuriken and kunai.

Itachi sat on the step directly inside the front door; there, he put on his shoes and waited for Sasuke to do the same. "Come on, little brother; I'd like to leave sometime today." It was taking far too long for Sasuke to prepare for departure.

"I'm ready!" The younger replied with enthusiasm. "Where are we going?"

"There is an area for training that not many people use or are even aware of," Itachi said, closing the door behind him and Sasuke, "it's the best place to practice since no one else will bother us."

After arriving at the training grounds, Itachi began to work on a me fire style technique. Sasuke stood by and watched for several minutes but got bored.

"Hey, Itachi?" He spoke. "Can you help me with my shuriken skills?"

The elder paused for a moment. "I said you could come along, but I also said I need to practice. Why don't you work on your chakra control?" Itachi truly wanted to pay more attention to his brother, but his duties for Anbu rarely allowed him to train.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Sasuke pouted from being ignored.

"You can try to climb a tree, or you could walk across that pond," Itachi pointed at the small body of water.

"That's too easy!" Sasuke said, though he actually had no clue how to go about doing either by using his chakra.

"Then you should prove to me that you can do it; once you figure it out, I'll teach you something more interesting." Itachi said, fully aware that Sasuke would not be able to accomplish either task; he was only seven, and the academy hadn't started demonstrating that kind of thing yet.

Sasuke took the challenge; he would do anything to learn a new jutsu from his brother! Walking across water seemed more simple than walking up a tree, so Sasuke decided to try that.

Itachi wasn't regarding anything Sasuke was doing. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he simply had other things to do. The thing that got him to worriedly look over at his brother was a squeal and splashing sound.

He hurriedly moved to the water, where Sasuke pulled himself to the edge from below. His little brother was soaked from falling in.

"Sasuke..." He sighed, examining the waterlogged boy.

"You told me to!" Sasuke said as he shook off his limbs.

"You shouldn't have just jumped in; you need to work on your chakra control first..." The elder remarked, his mother was going to blame him for Sasuke's condition, "I didn't think you were going to just go for it like this."

"I only did what you said; how was I supposed to know it wouldn't work?" Sasuke replied, trying to wring out his shirt.

"Never mind that; we should go home so you can change. You're going to get sick if you stay like that." Itachi said; it was unfortunate that his session had to he cut short, but the humor of the situation made it acceptable. "You're so foolish, Sasuke." Itachi smiled softly since his brother seemed embarrassed.

While walking back to the compound, Sasuke got some looks. Everyone wondered why the little boy was all wet, but no one asked. They just watched his adorable and drenched figure stroll along side his larger double.

Itachi was really hoping that no one would be home; it wouldn't do either of them justice to have their parents see Sasuke like this. Mikoto would be angry at Itachi for allowing it to happen, and Fugaku would scold Sasuke for not being as advanced as Itachi was at his age.

Unfortunately, the house was no empty... "What happened? Why is Sasuke wet?" Fugaku interrogated upon seeing his sons enter the home.

Sasuke lowered his gaze to the ground. Fugaku loved both of his sons but always seemed angry when addressing his youngest. "I-" Sasuke started.

"We were training over by the pond," Itachi cut in so their father would not complain about Sasuke, "I was practicing a new water technique as well as training Sasuke."

"Hm," the man of the hummed in thought, "you should focus more on your own skills rather than Sasuke. And Sasuke, you need to train more so you don't end up like this again. Now go change." Of course his statement came across as it usually did; telling both of them to get better.

"Yes, Father." Sasuke said meekly and went upstairs. Itachi decided to go to his room as well, not really in the mood for his father to speak about the Uchiha's political plans.

Dinner was called about an hour after Mikoto returned home from shopping. "What you boys do today," she asked during the meal, "you had the day off, right Itachi?"

Before either son could reply, Fugaku spoke up. "They were training and Sasuke came home soaking in water."

"How did that happen?" She asked, turning to look at the boys on the other side of the table.

"We were practicing and I used a water style jutsu on him." Itachi said before Sasuke could speak the truth. He didn't want his little brother to be reprimanded for not being enough like him, which would happen had Fugaku known the true story. Sasuke kept his silence, thanking his brother for being so kind.

"Why would you do that, Itachi?" Mikoto questioned. "Sasuke is not on the same skill level as you. You could have hurt him!"

"I just got wet." Sasuke defended his brother in return for defending him.

"It's apparent that Sasuke wasnt trying hard enough, Mikoto. Itachi's not to blame for this." Fugaku added, making Sasuke somewhat sad.

"It is my fault," Itachi decided to settle this, "I was being too hard on him. I shouldn't have practiced that jutsu with Sasuke."

"What jutsu were you practicing?" Fugaku asked curiously; he was always interested in his eldest son's abilities.

Since there wasn't one, Itachi had to think up something. "Exploding water clones."

"Haven't you used those before?" Fugaku's gaze locked on Itachi; he had said it was something new earlier; something seemed suspicious, especially since Sasuke wasn't looking at anyone or speaking. He usually liked to converse with his brother over dinner.

"I was just working out some of the problems with it," he lied further. Before the eldest man could ask more, Itachi got up. "Thank you for the meal; I need to look over some reports now."

Fugaku then looked over at Sasuke. "I... Have some academy homework..." He didn't want to face his suspicious father alone.

Sasuke fled to the upper level; before going to his room, he knocked on Itachi's door to receive an "it's open."

"Itachi... Thank you..." Sasuke said as he walked inside.

"It's not a problem." He replied, not looking up from his papers. "I'm sorry that father still scolded you."

"But he didn't get mad at me like he would have if he knew that I just fell in the water... And mother got mad at you."

Itachi glanced over to his little brother; then he waved him over. Sasuke walked over, but stayed out of range of Itachi's poking hand. Itachi grinned a bit, "I wasn't going to poke you."

The elder got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around Sasuke. "I'm always going to be on your side, little brother, even if I end up with less desirable consequences."


	6. Chapter 6

Itachi had been given a break from missions since he had gone one several over the last week. He did not even have time to get home between assignments, so Lord Third Hokage granted him several days of rest.

The first day he was home again seemed rather boring at first. He woke up early, but didn't feel like training, and the only other person home was his mother, Mikoto, who was busy cleaning.

Fugaku was off working at the police department, and Sasuke was at school, probably showing up his classmates. So Itachi just sat on the sofa and read over his next task, though he was not returning to the Anbu for another few days. Mikoto caught notice of what he was doing.

"Itachi," she sighed, "you've been so busy lately. Why don't you watch tv or do something fun instead of reading about your next mission?"

"I don't really enjoy watching tv; it gets boring quickly." Itachi said, placing his papers on the table to his right.

"Maybe you could go for a walk?" She offered.

"I don't think I'm in the mood for that; thank you for the suggestion, though."

"Okay," his mother responded, "I just don't like seeing you look so lethargic. It doesn't seem healthy."

Itachi didn't answer. What was he supposed to do, apologize for being bored?

"I know what you can do!" Mikoto perked up, proud of her resolution. "I need to go shopping, but I also need to clean the house since we have guests coming over tonight. If I write a list, could you go to the store for me?"

Her eldest son didn't really want to go, but he didn't want to displease his mother. "I can do that."

Mikoto went off to jot down the items she needed. While that was happening, a boy came running through the door and flung himself at Itachi, who fell back onto his chair at the contact.

"Hello, Sasuke," Itachi smiled at his gleeful brother, "how was your day?"

"It was okay," Sasuke wasted no time getting to what he wanted to say, "let's do something together!"

"I already have something planned to do this afternoon," Itachi jabbed his brother's head, "but I have the next three days off."

"I didn't hear you come in, Sweetie," Mikoto looked down at Sasuke, who was getting back to his feet from tackling his brother, "here you go Itachi."

"What's that?" Sasuke intercepted the paper. He looked it over then looked at Itachi. "Can I come with you?" The younger asked upon realizing that it was a grocery list.

"Do you really want to go shopping with me?" Itachi wondered, hoping to deter Sasuke. Shopping would take so much more time if a rambunctious seven year old came along.

"I think that would be a great idea!" Mikoto commented. She loved to see her two beloved sons do things together.

Itachi inwardly sighed, but agreed to take his little brother. The boys walked through town side by side; Sasuke was still holding and examining the list.

"Let me see that," Itachi said, "I need to know what store we should go to first."

"But I'm looking at it..." Sasuke mumbled.

"You've been looking at it since we left. Give it to me."

Sasuke squinted at Itachi. He wanted to be in charge of the shopping trip, and in his mind, the list holder was the leader. "I want to hold it."

"Why?" Itachi asked, clearly unaware of Sasuke's shopping rules.

"You always get to be in charge of everything. I want to be in charge this time." Sasuke answered as he peeled his eyes away from the captivating paper.

"Having that doesn't make a difference. Just let me have it." Itachi ordered.

"No."

"Hand it over, Sasuke. I don't want to be out all day."

"No."

"Sasuke..." Itachi groaned; he knew taking his kid brother out would be troublesome. "Don't make me take it from you."

Sasuke glared up, but it didn't do anything productive. In one swift movement, the paper was stolen from his hands. He began to yell at Itachi, but the elder ignored it.

"We already walked further than we were supposed to; the store is back this way." Itachi mumbled; Sasuke was too busy looking away from his brother after stealing his paper to notice that Itachi turned around. Fortunately, the elder grabbed ahold of Sasuke's arm and pulled him in the right direction.

"Here," Itachi gave the list back to Sasuke. There were not many items on it, so he knew what to get. "You can have it back."

"Really?" Sasuke asked.

"Really." Itachi answered.

"Thanks, Itachi!" The little one smiled.

"You're so foolish," Itachi laughed at his brother's reaction. How could he get so excited over holding a scrap of paper? That was a mystery...

Itachi walked through the isles of the store, gradually collecting the appropriate items and placing them in his basket. Sasuke also pulled things from shelves and placed them in the basket, but many of those items were snuck back onto the shelves by Itachi since many were not on the list.

"This looks like everything..." Itachi said. "What do you think, Sasuke? You have the list, right?"

The younger boy examined the paper and the pile of goods in the basket. He nodded in agreement with Itachi.

The brothers returned home after paying; Itachi placed the bags on the counter for his mother to stock the cabinets. "How was the trip?" She asked her precious boys.

"It was fun!" Sasuke smiled. "Anything Itachi does with me is fun."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, little brother." The elder returned the smile. "And I'll be glad to train with you tomorrow after you get home from school."


End file.
